A Midsummer Nightmare
by Lustitia-Et-Vindicta
Summary: Maline Pyxie never wanted a mundane life. Having a certain knack for trouble, it seemed like drawing pictures for her bed-ridden friend was the most excitement she would ever see. Until a chance encounter in the woods changes her life forever. Can she overcome her fears or will she succumb to the darker side of herself? T for later violence and language. Cover image is Maline


A Midsummer Nightmare

Chapter One

"It's raining again." Kristie groaned.

"Thank you for your insight." I teased as I pulled on my jacket. "Enlightening as always." Lacing up my boots, I walked to the second story window and watched the water race down the glass.

"You're going to get in trouble again Maline." My friend's voice dripped with disapproval.

"Oh rubbish." I shot a quick glance at the doorway. "I never get caught."

"You got caught last time."

"Hey!" I shot her a look. She was hid her giggle behind a soft pink blanket. Between the bubble-gum smile and sparkling eyes, I couldn't help but smile back. "That doesn't count, besides," I grabbed the small sketchbook from the desk next to me. "I'm getting you a new picture this time!" Her eyes lit up as I sat next to her on the bed.

"Really? What's it going to be of this time?" I opened my mouth to respond but she held up small finger. "Wait! I don't want to know. Make it a surprise!"

"Make it a surprise? Are you sure?" She paused for a moment before nodding, her blonde curls bouncing excitedly.

"Just do something new!"

"I always do something new!" We turned and looked at the wall where she put up all of my sketches. "Which one is your favorite?"

"I like all of them."

"Okay, what if you had to pick one?"

"Hmmm," She put her hand on her chin. "This one." She sat up and pulled down a landscape. "Where is it again?"

"It's the Eiffel Tower, in Paris."

"Paris." She let out a dreamy sigh. "I want to go there." I smiled sadly and ruffled her curls.

"You will someday." She started coughing, loudly. I grabbed the glass of water from her nightstand and handed it to her. She downed half of it quickly, her fits were getting worse. "Did you take your medicine?" She nodded. "Good, now lie back down and get some rest, sweetie. I'll be back soon." I tucked her in before walking to the second story window and quietly sliding it open. I closed my eyes and sighed as the cool mist brushed against my cheeks.

"Mal, we have parents coming in today!" I smiled as I put one foot onto the window sill.

"Don't forget to give them my card." She sighed as I threw a wave over my shoulder and jumped out the window. With a grunt, I landed on the slick grass and gave a quick look around before darting into the nearby woods.

Sitting on the fallen tree, I put the finishing touches on Kristie's picture. I had the good luck to happen across a sleeping fox, and was currently in the process of finishing up its tail. Bloody thing was hard to get right; first it looked too puffy, then too skinny, however…

"I think…I…got it!" I smiled as I put the last line in place. Perfect! It was a good thing too, because the fox decided to wake up and was sprinting away through the underbrush. Glancing up at the sky, I saw that it was getting dark, but it was too early to head back. "What to do?" I felt something cold land gently on my hand. "Ugh, snow." I scowled as more of the white powder fell from the sky.

"You have something against snow?" With a gasp, I whirled around. A boy, about my age, was lounging against a nearby tree, a weird staff-like thing in his hand. He had stark white hair and vivid blue eyes. "Everyone's a critic I suppose."

"Who are you?" He sighed and looked behind him, like I was talking to someone else.

"Hey!" I threw my pencil and the back of his head.

"Ow!" Rubbing the back of his head, he turned and looked at me, glowering. "Hey, what's the big-" His eyes grew wide in shock. "Wait a second, you can see me?"

"Ummm…yeah? Why wouldn't I be able to see you?" A bright smile spread across his face, from ear to ear.

"And you can hear me?"

"Yeah…" I raised an eyebrow at the boy as he began to pace around, laughing loudly.

"Then-then you know who I am?"

"Insane?" I shrugged, his smile fell.

"You don't know who I am."

"Afraid not."

"Oh, well, you can see me. That's all that matters I suppose." His smile came back as quickly as it had disappeared. "I'm Jack Frost."

"Jack Frost? The King of Winter? 'Jack Frost nipping at your nose' and all that?"

"King of Winter? I like that, has a nice ring to it." He became absorbed in his own thoughts at the title. "Why has nobody called me that before? Jack Frost! King of Winter!"

"Are you for real?"

"Oh, I'm real alright. I can prove it if you like." I scoffed at him; he seriously believed he was Jack Frost. "Okay…prove it then." I grinned and folded my arms across my chest, _this _should be good. He tapped the staff against his chin and looked at the darkening sky as he thought. With a small laugh, he tapped the earth with his staff, I watched in disbelief as the grass started to freeze. Ice began covering everything nearby; I grabbed my sketchbook to keep it from becoming frozen as well. Reaching down, I grabbed a nearby rose; it was completely covered in ice. It slipped from my hands only to be caught by Jack. He held it out to me with a smile. "Believe me now?"

"Uh, ye-yeah." I nodded and grabbed the flower with shaking hands. "Thanks." He gave a slight bow of his head.

"So what's your name?"

"Huh?"

"You never introduced yourself."

"Oh, right." I was still in shock over the whole freezing thing. "I'm Maline. Maline Pyxie. My friends call me Mal."

"Alright Mal. Tell me, did the last name have any influence over the hairstyle?" I self-consciously grabbed the back of my hair. The pixie-cut and my last name meant I got this question a lot.

"No!" I retorted, he laughed at my reaction.

"I'm just messing with you, calm down. What are you doing out here so late?" I held up my sketchbook.

"Drawing. What about you?"

"Some kids wanted a snow day tomorrow, thought I'd get a head start on it." I gave a small laugh at his comment, he smiled, apparently pleased with the fact that he was able to make me laugh. "Hey, do you wanna see something really cool?"

"What?" I asked skeptically, he held out his hand.

"It's hard to explain, you'll just have to trust me."

"I just met you! What makes you think I trust you already?" He shrugged but kept his hand held out nevertheless. I looked at the sky, it was dark now.

"Fine." I sighed and took his hand. "But I have to go home after this, you hear me?"

"Yep, now hang on."

"Hang on? Why would I need to-oh my god!" And then we were flying. I don't know how, but when I looked down, we were soaring high above the town. Jack was grinning from ear to ear, his smile was contagious, and it wasn't soon after that I found myself smiling. We landed on top of an apartment building, the stars where shining brightly and the moon was full. "What am I looking at?"

"Shh!" He lightly placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me around; my cheeks grow hot before I caught myself. "Look over there, see him?" My eyes scanned the horizon before I saw a small gold dot that I originally mistook for a star. Looking closer I realized it was a small person, he stood upon a golden cloud and had his arms outstretched, like a conductor in an orchestra. Shimmering tendrils spiraled from him and made their way across the night sky, poking into windows and doors. One went right over my head.

"It's sand?" Jack nodded, his eyes darting from one golden stream to the next. "What's he doing?" Jack pointed to a window across the street; a small boy was curled up in their bed, sound asleep. I watched as the sand flitted in through the window, hovering over the child's head before taking the shape of an old-fashioned plane that started to buzz around the room. "Dreams…he's creating their dreams." I whispered in astonishment. The little man floated over to where Jack and I were standing, and hopped off the cloud.

"Mal, meet Sandy." I held up a hand.

"Hi." He smiled warmly and returned the wave. It almost looked like he was made up of the golden sand. An array of images flashed above his head, an eye, a question mark, and finally an arrow pointing at Jack.

"Yes she can see me." Sandy's face lit up with what looked like pride. "He doesn't talk." Jack explained. "Well, he does, just not verbally."

"Oh okay. So you're the Sandman?" Sandy nodded. "Cool. Um, like Jack said, I'm Maline, you can call me Mal. Wow, so I've met Jack Frost and the Sandman in one day, that's…different." More images flashed above Sandy.

_"You'll get used to it."_

"I doubt that. So I'm assuming that the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are real too?"

"She didn't mention the Easter Kangaroo!" Jack started laughing. "Oh, I am so telling him about this."

"Kangaroo? I thought it was a bunny?" I looked at Sandy.

_"He is. Long story._"

"I will take your word for it. Anybody else that I should be meeting today?"

"No, I don't think so." Jack started, Sandy pulled on his leg before pointing to the moon. "Oh, right, there's the big guy, The Man in the Moon. We just call him Manny though."

"Oh, umm, hi?" I waved to the moon, nothing happened.

"Don't take it personally, he doesn't talk much." Jack waved off my questioning look.

"Naturally. Well if that's all I think I'll start heading home then. It was nice meeting you Sandy." I turned to wave goodbye, but he was asleep. "Umm…Jack?"

"What? Oh, he does that; I'll wake him up later." Jack pulled me close to him and we flew off the roof. "Do you need someone to walk you home?"

"Do I look like I'm five? Go help Sandy, I'm not afraid of the da-" Jack quickly covered my mouth with his hand. "-rk?"

"Be careful where you say that." His eyes checked every alley and street.

"Why? Is the Bogeyman gonna get me?" I joked.

"Yes." He responded seriously.

"Oh."

"Just be careful, okay? Almost every creature you were told about as a child is real, and not all of them are as friendly as Sandy and me. You want to avoid some of them, and Pitch Black is on top of that list."

"Alright, sorry." He smiled brightly.

"It's alright, I'm going to go wake Sandy up; maybe I'll see you around?"

"Alright, bye Jack." But he was already gone. "Okay then." I huffed and started the walk back home. It was pitch black out, even with the street lights and full moon shining it was hard to see. I kicked an empty can that was lying on the sidewalk. "So Sandman and Jack Frost walk into a bar…"

"Jack Frost says 'you are lucky you're so short, that really hurt!'"

"Jesus!" My hand flew to my now racing heart; a man was leaning against a nearby mail box, his chin resting in one of his hands. I was surprised I didn't notice him before, he was tall and skinny. He wore a long coat that touched the ground.

"Did I scare you? I didn't mean to, honest."

"No," I was lying, but so was he. "No I'm fine." He smiled darkly, something was off about him. I don't know if it was his pale skin or the wicked gleam in his eye, but something was definitely off. "Can I help you?"

"Jack Frost and Sandy was it? Interesting characters for a joke, why did you pick those two?" I eyed the man suspiciously.

"I never called him Sandy." A look of surprise flashed across the man's face, but only for a second before he regained control of his emotions.

"You didn't? Are you sure?"

"Positive." I nodded curtly, this man knew Sandy and Jack...but then, who was he? He noticed my curiosity.

"Trying to figure out who I am?" I stayed silent. "Do you need a hint?" He smirked.

"The menacing demeanor, the air of fear," He looked flattered. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're the Bogeyman." His smile grew wider and he clapped slowly.

"Bravo! Well, aren't you the little detective?" He pointed a finger at me. "Pitch Black, at your service." He bowed and took a step forward; I instinctively took a step back. "Do I make you nervous?" He feigned surprise. "Do I-do I _scare_ you?" His laughter echoed around me, seeming to come from every shadow…it sent shivers down my spine. I took a deep breath to calm my heart.

"No." I retorted with a smirk, his laughter stopped and he glared at me.

"Don't bother trying to act brave, girl." He spat at me. "I know your fears. It is my job after all." He circled around me. "To know fear. Shall I tell you yours?"

"I'm not afraid of anything." He laughed loudly. It had become almost impossible to see anything not in the immediate area; it was like the longer I was around him, the darker everything got.

"My dear, deluded girl," He stooped down behind me, his hand on my shoulder, his voice a whisper in my ear. "Everyone is afraid of something. Especially people who say they are afraid of nothing. So, shall we try this again…Mal?" My eyes widened as I spun around to face him; he still wore a vicious smile.

"What do you want?"

"It's more like, what do _you_ want, Maline."

"Nothing from you." I spun on my heel and turned to walk away.

"Not even if I could tell you about your past?" I hesitated for a second, but that was all the time he needed. I heard him walk closer, I flinched as he brushed past me.

"What do you know about my past?" He stood in front of me, hands behind his back.

"I know more than you do," He shrugged lightly. "isn't that enough?"

"How?"

"We all have our secrets Maline, how I know yours will be one of mine." I scoffed at him.

"And you'd tell me out of the kindness of your heart…that is assuming you have a heart?" He held his hand to his chest in mock pain.

"You wound me. Everything comes with a price." I thought for a moment, my past was a mystery to me, could Pitch really hold the answers? His gaze bored into mine, I could tell that he could see everything, every time I was ever scared. I could see that he wasn't afraid to use it all against me.

"What do you want?" He grinned and started to pace back and forth.

"Information in exchange for information. Jack Frost seems to have taken a shine to you, presumably because you can actually see him. It won't be long before he introduces you to the Guardians. When he does, I want you to tell me what they are planning." I strode up to him in three angry steps, I stared him straight in the eye, his face only inches from mine.

"No. Deal." I growled; he didn't appear angry or annoyed, only mildly amused.

"Well, aren't you fiery?" He stepped away from me, but kept his eyes locked on mine. A large black horse appeared behind him, it looked similar to Sandy's sand, but some twisted version of it. He climbed onto it, smirking at me. "My offer still stands." He tossed something at me; I caught it more out of reflex than want. Opening my hands a saw a small hourglass filled with black sand. "I'll be back when that hourglass runs out of time, it will be the last time I make my offer, so give it some thought." His horse whinnied and reared up on its hind legs. Pitch opened his hand and blew into it, surrounding me with black sand.

"What the-?" I felt my entire body go heavy as I fell to the gravel, I tried to lift my eyes but my body refused to listen. When my eyes finally closed, I heard Pitch's laugh one last time.

"Sweet dreams, Maline."

End of Chapter One

_**Hey guys! This is the first time I've gotten back into writing after a very long break, so all your critiques are appreciated! Thanks for reading and I hope you stick around!**_


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